Last November, Jimmy Barnes was rushed to hospital due to bacterial pneumonia.
This later became a staph infection that developed into inflammation of his heart chambers, requiring a valve to be replaced a month later.
Despite doctors and family begging him to stay in bed for the prescribed 12 weeks once he made it home, Barnes continued to sneak out and gig, which prolonged his recovery.
Flash forward to this week at his Hell Of A Time Tour in Aotearoa, the Australian artist is celebrating the 30th anniversary of his triple-platinum album Flesh and Wood.
Barnes performed at New Plymouth’s TSB Showplace on Wednesday. On Thursday, he packed out Auckland’s The Civic with an epic seven-piece band, which included his wife Jane and their daughters Eliza-Jane and Mahalia – all respected musicians in their own right.
While all New Zealand tickets have almost sold out, they were not snapped up as quickly as Barnes’ home country.
“The Australian tour sold out in about an hour. New Zealand was a bit slower,” Barnes teased the crowd.
He sat on a stool through most of his set-in front of an enthusiastic and predominantly middle-aged audience, but sometimes stood to even slow-dance with his wife as their daughters sang.
“I dance like an elephant tied to a tree,” he said.
Known for his powerful voice, Barnes covered heavy-hitting classics and crowd favourites like Working Class Man, Guilty, Still Got A Long Way To Go, You Can’t Make Love Without A Soul, and I’m Still on Your Side.
He also included Cold Chisel’s Forever Now and covers such as Cat Stevens’ The First Cut is Deepest and the traditional Scottish song The Bonnie Banks of Loch Lomond by Ella Roberts.
Clearly happy to be back onstage, Barnes was more than conversational in-between songs.
He said that the doctor warned that he should be on bed rest for 12 weeks, but would feel fine at eight. Those eight weeks rolled around and Barnes chose to sneak out to play a show in Sydney.
His pain swiftly returned and he was admitted back into hospital to drain fluid from his body. He was ordered to return to bed for another 12 weeks.
He escaped twice more to play gigs come eight weeks again, extending his recovery time twice overall.
Finally accepting the process of recovery, Barnes further disclosed that he wrote an album. He explained that the unreleased track is an ode to his marriage of over four decades.
“We live by the banks of a river … sometimes we’re ripping the walls off, sometimes it’s really calm, a platypus swimming in.”
He kissed his wife on the cheek several times that night, sharing the microphone with her for one song.
From tomorrow, he will head to Christchurch at the Isaac Theatre Royal before finalising his tour at Wellington’s Opera House this Sunday.
Cold Chisel will be reuniting and returning to New Zealand in January 2025 for their 50th anniversary Summer Concert Tour.
New Zealander Bic Runga, American act Everclear, and Australian rockers Icehouse will join the band on tour across Queenstown, Taupō and Whitianga.
Barnes is still kicking it with his rock, which crosses generations and national borders.
To many in New Zealand, he is a living legacy of love and talent, unshaken by hardship and age.
